Fate Timoria
by Nemrut
Summary: Until Saber gets her wish, she raises her sword for the sake of her people. Even if her summoner and the place she found herself in are most unusual.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, here is something I have been working on for a while. Please let me know what you guys think of this. I am not that far in planning, just something that was spooking in my head. This has been on DLP for a while and I thought that it couldn't hurt to be on this account as well. Can't say when the next chapter will be coming, expect irregular updates.

A big thanks to Payce D. Elui, Kyurin and Lecos for their help with grammar, spelling and the writing process in general.

Of course neither Naruto nor Fate Zero belong to me.

Enjoy.

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Arturia Pendragon, King of the Britons, did not enjoy being summoned. She was hurled from the resting place where she had waited for centuries, pierced through the veil of reality, and manifested into the boundaries of a summoning circle. Even feeling her numerous lethal wounds closing in a speed that surpassed the tremendous healing powers of Avalon felt unsettling. It was a very peculiar experience.

However, it was another chance. It also meant that she was, once again, a Servant.

That was fine; she was already resigned to this fate and she would not give up as long as she had another chance.

After all, she had sought the Holy Grail while she had walked this earth; she would not stop to do so simply because she had ceased to live.

As the light of the summoning faded and she opened her eyes, she saw a dark haired young man sitting in front of her, panting and clutching his bleeding left arm, regarding her with a shocked face. It didn't seem to be a particularly deep wound, from what Arturia could see, but she knew from experience that it hurt. Especially if one took into account all the other injuries and bruises that he had all over his body.

If this was her Master, Arturia hoped he would be better than the last one, or at the very least, similarly competent. For all his flaws, she could not deny that Kiritsugi had been effective and she would once again swallow her pride and her moral code if it meant winning the war for the relict known as the Holy Grail.

Before she was a woman, she was a knight. And before she was a knight, she was a king.

A failure of a king, maybe, but a king, nonetheless.

She stared intensely at the young man in front of her, who was now glaring back. He attempted to stand up and unsheathed the sword he had on his side.

Apparently he didn't like whom he had summoned.

Saber wasn't surprised; it wouldn't be the first time she had utterly disappointed the expectations of her summoner. Nor did she suspect that this would be the last.

Before he could say anything, she locked her deep green eyes on his, noting that they were strangely red, and spoke forcefully, her voice reaching every corner of the room.

It was a voice that demanded attention and obedience, for it was the voice of the king.

"Upon your summoning, I have come forth. I ask of thee, are you my Master?"

The young man had obviously not expected this particular question. His strange eyes had started spinning. They seemed to analyze her, the pupils scanning her from head to toe.

Was he a demon or simply a fallen magus? Arturia didn't care. After allying herself with a mass-murdering assassin, allying herself with a maleficar wouldn't be that much more demeaning.

_It certainly wouldn't be the worst thing I have ever done._

"What are you?" asked the young man in front of her. His voice, despite his injuries, was even, and did not betray the pain he had to be experiencing, nor did it convey his emotions.

_Impressive, at the very least he is in control of himself._

"I am the Servant Saber, summoned to be my Masters' sword and shield in this Holy Grail War and bring them victory. I ask of you once more, are you my Master?"

His body language was tense and he was apparently prepared to jump away at the slightest notice.

"I am the one that summoned you," he admitted through clenched teeth, his eyes leaving hers for a second to check the door. "But I intended to summon something else."

"Regardless of your intention, Master, you have me now." She glanced at the young man's exposed and bloody arms and was disappointed to see the Command Seals. She had hoped that with an unintentional summon, the Command Seals would have been missing.

Cooperation was one thing, forceful servitude was another.

Even a failed king like her didn't like taking orders. Bending her knee to whoever was lucky enough to have summoned her galled her more than she would ever like to admit. But if the price to save her kingdom was merely her pride, her convictions and self-respect, Saber would gladly pay it.

It was all she had left to give.

She pointed at his arm. "The Command Seals are proof."

The young man looked, only to discover the three seals and scowled. Before he could comment further, however, he froze.

"Shit," he cursed, and turned around. "I don't know who or what you are, but right now, I'm in a fight and don't have the time to deal with you." He glanced once more at her. "If you want to live, girl, you should run away. If nothing else, he is dangerous."

Saber didn't say anything. She may not like it, but this impudent boy was her Master. In addition, she couldn't feel any prana from him, which was unusual. Even injured and exhausted as he obviously was, there should have been a small amount flowing towards her. Nonetheless, she felt a connection to the Command Seals and him, which was proof enough. And since she was freshly summoned, she was at full strength, so the mysterious lack of prana was a problem that could be addressed later.

Right now, it seemed that her Master was in a fight and needed her assistance. Naturally, she would defeat and slay his enemy.

Such was her pride as a knight. Such was her duty as a Servant.

She formed her sword in her hand, still invisible to hide the blade's true identity. For Servants in a Holy Grail War, there were few things more important than their true names. For their name would reveal their techniques and tactics. Once a Servants' name was revealed, it allowed the enemy to figure out how to fight them best, since their strengths and weaknesses were well known. The way each and every one of the numerous heroes had fallen, was well recorded in history.

That was especially true for particularly famous and well known heroic spirits such as herself. Saber didn't care much for boasting, but it was true that there were few legends more famous than that of King Arthur, and even fewer weapons more recognizable than Excalibur.

The invisibility of her sword had other additional advantages of course. Next to concealing her identity, it was a lot harder to block and battle a weapon whose length you couldn't effectively gauge.

It was efficient and it was definitely smart.

It was a way of fighting she inherently despised.

A fight without putting her name on the line was not a true fight. Not an honourable duel, but rather warfare.

That was another price she had to pay to be a Servant, but she would never complain. Out loud, that is.

With that, Saber was ready for battle; her invisible sword was firmly in both hands, ready to strike at the person that she felt would come through the door at any second. Her Master, too, had tensed, even earlier than she had.

It didn't surprise her. As Saber, her ability to sense an enemy was significantly lower than that of any other class. For now though, that didn't matter.

She made up for that plenty in other areas.

The door exploded and a white blur passed through it. Her Master was just about to jump to engage it, but Saber had already dashed forward with a Prana Burst, passing her injured Master and striking the figure across the torso. The attack sent it flying backwards and she landed smoothly in front of her Master, feeling his astonished gaze drilling on her back.

She didn't smile. This was not the time for such petty thoughts.

Instead, she focused all her attention on the enemy in front of her. She had been in too many battles to believe that this fight was already over, not when she felt its presence just as clearly as she had done before. It was a twisted and corrupted one. Whether it was a Servant or a Master she could not tell, but right now, she didn't particularly care.

Whatever it was, it had injured her Master and was now still trying to inflict even more harm upon him. That just wouldn't do. Having failed to protect her Master a few minutes after being summoned would be nothing but a humiliating disgrace and a monumental failure of her duty.

The figure had stood up, clutching his bleeding chest. This was the first time Saber could see the person with clarity. It was a tall man with an unnaturally pale face. His long, black hair fell behind his shoulders, revealing odd earrings, and torn brown clothing hung from his lithe body. His yellow eyes were disgruntling, but what struck her most, was his tongue. It was too long to be natural and longer than she'd seen on a human in her life.

"Now, who is your friend, Sasuke-kun? I didn't know you had brought a girl here. Such a pretty little thing, too."

He spoke in a fashion that made her tense. His voice was smooth, too smooth to be normal, and it made her hair stand up. It crawled over her skin in a very unpleasant manner.

Saber was disgusted to be even in the same room as him.

However, nothing she had experienced so far, had prepared her for what came next. The man looked up and opened his mouth widely, wider than it should have been possible for a human.

Two white, pale hands came from his mouth, pushing his upper and lower jar apart until it was wide enough for a cart's wheel to fit through, and he peeled his skin off, revealing his own head squeezing out of his own mouth, but healed from all injuries. It was like an unnatural reverse birth. He then stepped out of his…skin, casually kicking it aside, covered in a yellowish-green slime from head to toe. Most disturbingly, he still had his twisted smile on his face.

Saber had never been as repulsed as she was now and her face contorted in anger, her eyes narrowing and her teeth clenching.

"What kind of abomination are you, demon?" she hissed.

The enemy, however, simply looked at her, his amusement obvious, and chuckled. 

"That is an interesting sword you have there, child. I wonder how it stays invisible. It seems to be some kind of wind technique, no? Now, I wonder, is your sword invisible by itself or is that your doing?"

His grin widened and he licked his lips. "I have never seen such a thing and I would have never thought to do so myself. What a brilliant idea, to cloak your sword with wind and hide its length and form. Just for showing me something fun like that, I will let you live and forgive you for attacking me."

His eyes left her for a second to focus on her Master, who was still standing beside her, apparently unsure what to do, before returning back to her.

"You are free to live, if you withdraw now, my dear girl. I will be busy with Sasuke-kun here. Someone like you, deserves her own time and should not be rushed, especially on such a short notice. Do not worry, he will be in the best hands."

"Unacceptable!" spat Saber, "I will not allow trash like you to lay another hand on my Master. Your twisted life ends here at my sword."

Not willing to talk to that thing anymore, Saber hurled herself at him.

Her enemy reacted almost instantly and jumped back, opening his mouth, and since Saber had come to expect the worst whenever that happened, she wasn't even surprised when he let a snake shoot out, which flew towards her with great speed.

She brought her sword up and sliced through the serpent several times and swung her blade against her opponents' torso again, who, this time, managed to dodge by twisting his body in a way that would have been impossible for her.

So she pressed on, but her opponent was hard to hit. He possessed great speed and agility and was able to step out of range again and again. After a few seconds, his hands formed several weird signs in succession and dozens of snakes, thin and brown, shot out of his sleeves and mouth and promptly surrounded her.

Excalibur soared as it once again cut all of the snakes in the blink of an eye, while she whirled her blade around her body, her eyes never leaving the repulsive abomination in front of her. To her chagrin, he was still looking as if he was having the time of his life.

Before Saber could thrust forward again, her enemy kicked her in the chest. She reacted and tried to jump backwards to lessen the impact of his strike, but it was still strong enough to force her a few feet away from him. It didn't particularly hurt, since the armour that covered her body absorbed most of the impact, but it still rattled her a bit and she could feel a bruise forming.

The pale man opened his mouth again, this time letting a surprisingly big snake come out, which, in turn, also opened its mouth, spitting out a double-edged sword with a black hilt that was adorned by a green emerald. The man took the weapon in one hand and smiled.

Saber's expression darkened even further. She didn't like the thought of sullying Excalibur by crossing blades with a sword that had spent an inappropriate amount of time in a man's snake stomach.

The man chuckled at her expression. She hadn't tried to hide her feelings. "It has been quite some time since I had as much fun as I had today. Really, first Sasuke-kun is showing me all those peculiar little tricks that he had kept a secret and now I see a little girl with a very fascinating sword which she is also able to wield proficiently."

It was true that she wasn't very tall - she was the smallest in the room and even her Master, a young man not yet in adulthood, was taller, - but the man was practically towering her. She also didn't look particularly intimidating, being a relatively short, blond haired woman who was eternally frozen to look as if she were fifteen. Her muscled body was hidden under her clothes and armour but she doubted it would have particularly impressed anyone. However, what she lacked in physical feats, she more than made up for in presence.

There were few people with a stronger presence than hers, and it was usually enough to make people forget they were facing a five foot tall girl with a delicate face and believe they were standing in the presence of their absolute king.

Thus, height had never intimidated her and neither did those demented snake techniques that her opponent used.

"It has been some time for me, as well, since I last saw someone who disgusted me this much." That had been Caster and what he had done to all those children.

The man pointed his sword at her, his cold smile widening even further.

"Entertain me more, little girl," he demanded and his sword extended.

Saber felt there was an inappropriate metaphor hidden somewhere.

_Forgive me, my Lady, for I have to stain your gift once more with tainted blood such as his._

She brought her weapon up, deflected the incoming stab and sprinted forward, eyes fixated on her enemy. When she brought Excalibur down with a devastating blow, he managed to block it with his blade.

Apparently it retracted faster than it extended. Again, Saber felt that there was a joke in there.

She went once more on the offensive, this time with a flurry of slashes, thrusts and stabs over and over again, only to find her every strike to be blocked.

Saber learned three things during this clash; One, her opponent had not much skill in swordsmanship. Two, he more than made up for it with pure strength and speed, and three, she was faster and stronger, still.

That last insight came a bit as a surprise to her but then again, it was more than obvious by now that he wasn't a Servant. It was actually very impressive that he could keep up with her as he did.

No matter how depraved or sick this abomination in front of her was, he had the skills to become a heroic spirit someday. And she would bet Avalon that someone who possessed such a twisted presence, had a reputation to match, too.

One might think the heroic aspect would matter a bit more, but Caster had qualified, and there had been nothing particularly heroic about him either.

Saber knew she had the advantage and pressed harder, using more prana now. Her blows were getting faster and heavier, her strikes were coming from different angles, her steps were getting sharper and second by second, blow by blow, the disgusting smile on her enemy's face was getting smaller, slipping slowly into a concerned frown.

She remembered what he had done last time to get enough space to even the odds between them, so Saber stepped to the left, parried his strike from below and used the opening he gave to connect with a powerful kick of her own.

Her enemy crashed through the wall. Saber used that moment to look at her Master, who was still standing in the same position and watching her every move intensely. Saber was pleased to see that he had taken advantage of the break and had tended to his most critical wounds. Seeing that there was no medical equipment lying around, it seemed most likely to her that he had used some sort of magecraft.

A Master who could heal suited her better than anything else, for it was her one big disadvantage since she lost possession of Avalon.

A Master who did not try to join her in a fight was an even better one. She knew young men didn't like being defended by anyone, much less females and it made her glad that he had not tried to participate.

She was uncertain though, whether to tell him to run away or remain there. Both had their advantages. However, since they were in a hostile and completely unknown territory and since she lacked knowledge on the amount of potential enemies lurking around, it would be overall safer to have him in her line of sight.

If worst came to worst, she could at least grab him and flee. The survival of her Master was more important than any pyrrhic victory here.

Her Master's presence also disabled her from using her Noble Phantasm recklessly, but that was not something she liked to resort to if she couldn't help it, anyway. Besides, for all his unusual skill, her pale, unnerving enemy hadn't seemed like someone against whom she would need her most powerful attack. Seeing that she still hadn't received any prana from her Master, using it would mean being nearly defenceless against the next enemy, since it consumed most of her energy.

Not to mention that it was completely impractical to bring into play in close combat against such a fast enemy in the first place.

She shifted her eyes back to the hole in the wall as her enemy climbed through it, looking no worse for wear even though she had kicked him with enough force to tear through iron.

He chuckled again with that irritating laugh of his.

"So the little girl knows how to use her magnificent weapon, after all. That is most pleasing." He strode towards her; his complete attention was focused on Saber now.

"I admit, it has been a very long time since I have been challenged to a sword fight like this. No doubt, you have noticed that I am not particularly used to it, although, I would like to think that I can hold my own, for an amateur."

"Your skills are acceptable," started Saber, her eyes still cold, pointing her invisible weapon at her enemy. "However, they are not worthy of the sword you use."

Indeed, they weren't. Excalibur was among the sharpest of swords and among the most durable. Not to mention a Noble Phantasm. To exchange so many heavy blows with it without breaking or even receiving any damage meant that his sword was of similar calibre. Adding the extension abilities and she had no doubt that it was some sort of legendary weapon, a weapon that this dog was demeaning by using.

"What is the name of the sword you are defiling, monster?" asked Saber sharply. Her enemy laughed again, not the slightest bit intimidated.

"You would rather ask the name of my sword rather than mine? How rude. Is that how you were raised, little girl? Wanting names, without giving your own? I am much more interested in your name and that of your weapon. It must be an excellent one, if mine couldn't cut through it."

"My name and the name of my sword are both something that I refuse to give to someone like you, for it would mean I am elevating you more than you deserve. And if you are not willing to tell me the sword's true name, then I will find out after I have put you down. However, do not let it be said that I lack courtesy; you may address me as Saber, for that is the purpose for which I exist and for that is the very reason that I will strike you down."

Her green eyes narrowed. "So tell me, wretched abomination, the name of your sword. I demand it!"

"Very well," drawled the pale man, "I suppose you do deserve a reward for entertaining me so much. This is the sword of Kusanagi, one of the three treasures given by the gods. Or so the legend goes. Of course it's more likely that some particularly talented swords smith created it but what would we be without our legends?"

"So you sully a sword of the gods." Her heavy gauntlets tightened around the grip of her sword. "Such impudence shall not be forgiven!"

"Come at me, Saber. Attack me with all your strength! Banish the boredom that has plagued me for a while. It has been too long since I had last faced such an intriguing person. I, Orochimaru, will make it worth it."

Orochimaru, the name tasted foul in her mouth. She refused to share the same battlefield with him any longer.

With a huge Prana Burst, Saber closed the distance once again and attacked with a vertical slash. The power of this strike was great enough to knock Kusanagi out of Orochimaru's hands, much to his surprise, and with a second, even faster slash, Saber cut neatly through his body, separating it into two parts.

To her disgust, numerous snakes erupted from both body halves and connected with each other again, as he jumped backwards. Not willing to give ground, Saber sprinted to where Kusanagi had fallen and took place in front of it to prevent her enemy from recovering his weapon.

Meanwhile, he had healed and was looking at her with a strange smile. "Glorious," he praised.

This was becoming ridiculous; she had never encountered an enemy who could regenerate this much before.

"Behind you!" her Master warned. She spun around and deflected the incoming Kusanagi sword as she felt it piercing her armour and cut into her flesh. It was levitating on its own.

What a vexing ability! It seemed the weapon was as troublesome as its wielder.

The sword had pierced through her armour, but thanks to her fast reaction, it had only injured her shoulder. She then smacked it away, only to immediately cut the two snakes that Orochimaru had shot from his sleeves at her back.

With another Prana Burst, she tried to close the distance again but this time, after flashing through several hand signs again, a wall of snakes erupted from Orochimaru's mouth.

Hundreds of serpents, coiling and hissing, advanced on her like a wave. Some of them were even brandishing tiny swords out of their mouths.

"Invisible Air!" Saber shouted, and the wind around her sword flared as she released her secondary Noble Phantasm **Invisible Air: ****Bounded Field of the Wind King. **The layers of wind that had coated her sword and had hidden its presence from prying eyes stopped protecting it and attacked, blasting all incoming snakes away. The technique left Orochimaru unprotected and pushed him backwards. Her sword, now visible again, golden and majestic, sought its way into Orochimaru's heart and pierced it with a strong thrust.

He grunted, and tried to bring his hands up to pull it out, but Saber heaved the sword upwards, cutting its way towards his head, and with little difficulty, tore it in two.

She would like to see him regenerate from that!

To her disappointment, he did. In front of her eyes, a white serpent slithered out of the corpse, rapidly growing in size until it filled a good proportion of the room they were in. It was enormous, with huge, white scales, but the head resembled Orochimaru's face more than it did a snake. It was a gross distortion, a revolting one.

On the other hand, it explained a great deal: his seeming immortality, his skill in battle and why he could keep up with a heroic spirit even though he himself was not one. He was a snake spirit or snake demon of some kind. Apparently, it had tired of keeping human form and had taken on its less restraining, true appearance.

Most likely, the fight would become tougher, but at the very least he should be mortal again.

She felt that she should have been more shocked to find out that he wasn't human.

_It is not like he concealed it particularly well._

Ultimately, it didn't matter in the bigger sense. Human or monster, corporeal or spirit, it tried to attack her Master and for that, she would kill it.

It was as simple as that.

The Invisible Air formed once again around her sword, but this time, she pointed the tip of Excalibur behind her, to the opposite direction of the giant white snake, who still regarded her with great interest. Several more of its scales extended and turned into snake heads, and she could see sweat forming on its face or at least something like it.

Despite its projected confidence, Saber was sure that it was concerned by now. Throughout the whole fight, she had been in control and she didn't plan on relinquishing that control now.

It looked like it was about to say something, and opened its revolting mouth, revealing several sets of teeth, but Saber had no interest on hearing it out.

"Invisible Air," she declared and released the winds around her sword once more. The exploding air currents propelled her forward with a speed three times greater than what she had displayed so far, and the distance was closed in a blink of an eye. Upon impact, Excalibur cut through the creature's face along with half of its body in one swoop. The push from Invisible Air had stopped, so she immediately set upon cutting through the body in several places.

After all, she couldn't be too sure whether he would regenerate again or not.

She stared at the bleeding carcass of the snake, only to see a reddish smoke cloud filling the room slowly. Saber immediately jumped in front of her Master, using Invisible Air to form a barrier between them and the smoke.

She didn't know what it did and she didn't want to find out.

Thankfully, she hadn't breathed much of it in but what little she had was already making her feel a bit sluggish but it had not been enough to seriously impair her fighting. A Servant's body was many times tougher that of normal humans, after all.

The head of the snake had repaired itself, and was now looking at them again. To her relief, it didn't seem that it was capable of regenerating his whole body, or maybe it just didn't feel the need to.

"I admit I have grossly underestimated you," hissed Orochimaru, his voice as distorted as his face. "What are you, girl? Why do you stand in my way? Why have I never heard of you or your weapon?"

Saber didn't reply. Instead, she was trying to think of a way to finally slay this monster in front of her. Should she simply keep slicing it until it couldn't regenerate anymore? She could protect herself from his poison with her Invisible Air, but what if he had no real limit to physical regeneration? Or what if he had more prana to regenerate than she had to keep attacking?

Saber judged that to be unlikely, since she felt that her prana capacity was huge even for a heroic spirit. But simply because something was unlikely didn't mean it was impossible.

"Answer me!" he roared.

Saber had decided and without turning around she addressed her Master.

"Master, please retreat to a place where his poison won't reach you. I will simply kill him so many times that he will not be able to regenerate. I will come and find you once I am done with him."

"He has a technique that allows him to transfer his mind and soul into another body, destroying the soul there," Her Master said and vanished.

Saber was surprised, but pleasantly so. It seemed that her Master was more capable than she had assumed. That technique was worrying, though. Alone the thought that this beast would even dare to try to claim her body and devour her soul was so utterly abhorrent and enraging that Saber felt her teeth grinding.

Now it had truly earned her wrath, a king's wrath.

However, the very second her Master had vanished, the snake had lunged towards her with a roar, a great amount of his scales, having revealed themselves as snakes, attacking with him.

"Sasuke-kun's body is mine!"

The disgust on Saber's face couldn't have been greater as she pressed forward, her golden sword cutting through the attacking snakes with little difficulty. She whirled around, avoiding the snakes that she couldn't cut, while holding the Invisible Air as a barrier around her so that it dispersed the poison in the air.

In her ire, she fought more recklessly than she would have normally and couldn't react when suddenly the tail of the snake, having reattached itself without Saber being able to see it, slammed her into the ground. Roaring with delight, the snake engulfed her with its mouth before giving her a chance to defend herself.

The inside of the abomination was dark, damp and absolutely revolting. She felt a tingle as something intangible brushed over her body but she paid it no mind, concentrating instead on the wind forming around her sword, even in a place such as this.

"Strike Air!" she roared, and the wind pounded into the snake around her with the force of a battering ram. **Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King **was another way to use her secondary Noble Phantasm Invisible Air. It shot the wind sheath of her sword like a hammer thrown by the gods against any target in range that she aimed at. Normally, it was a long range weapon, but Saber felt justified to use every means possible to escape her predicament.

It wasn't very strong, and it certainly wasn't strong enough to kill a Servant. However, it was more than strong enough to blast her way out of the stomach of an unstable abomination such as this.

The snake exploded and showered the room with its intestines. Saber wiped her face clean, glaring at the remains. This had been a fight she could have lived without.

She waited for a few minutes, slicing the bigger pieces lying around into even smaller parts, and when she was satisfied that Orochimaru seemed dead at last, as none of pieces tried to heal, she turned around to search for her Master. Saber didn't need to, as he had already returned.

His sword was drawn and his ominous red eyes were blazing.

"Who are you?"


	2. Chapter 2

Saber stared at her Master, feeling relieved that he was well.

"I have slain the beast." she reported, putting both hands on the tip of the hilt.

His pupils started to spin as his eyes narrowed, firmly looking into hers. She felt a similar tingle as to what she had felt while being in the stomach of the snake, and was unsure as to what it was.

"Genjutsu doesn't work on you." Sasuke observed, not repeating his previous question. "Why?"

Saber did not know what that was, and told him so. Her own eyes were narrowed by now. If her Master was going to keep treating her like this, it would seem that she wouldn't get along so well with him after all.

"Why are you calling me 'master'?" was his next question. Obviously he wasn't too keen on giving any answers, and Saber decided to be patient and play along for a while. It was apparent that he was under stress right now and Saber was willing to be more understanding under these circumstances. At least for a while.

"I call you Master, because you are the one who has summoned me."

"Sasuke will do."

A small smile found its way on her face.

"I'd prefer that."

He then returned his sword to its sheath. "Did he try to take over your body?"

"I don't know, but even if he did, it would have failed. As the Servant Saber, my resistance to magic is the highest of all the Servant classes and little direct enemy magic can affect me."

"He doesn't use magic." said Sasuke, as he walked towards the Kusanagi sword that Orochimaru had dropped and picked it up.

"Then how did he create all these snakes? Is it not obvious, that he was either a magus or a snake spirit?"

Sasuke looked her in the eyes again, his face not betraying any emotion. "Those were techniques used with chakra. We call them ninjutsu." he started, "And he was able to turn into a snake because he was desperate and pathetic enough to experiment on his own body like a fool, to reach for something that could never be his. He was just a sad creature."

Before he could say anything more, a silver haired man with glasses and purple-white clothing entered the room, his expression shocked. Saber immediately stepped in front of Sasuke, both hands gripping her sword, the tip pointing at the silver haired man.

"Orochimaru-sama…" he trailed off, taking in the situation of the room, seeing the pieces of a gigantic snake and countless smaller snakes and seeing Saber and Sasuke, both covered with blood.

"The soul transfer ritual…which one are you?" he addressed her Master.

"Who do you think?" asked Sasuke, a faint smirk on his lips, as he put one hand on the grip of his sword again.

The man's face darkened. "Sasuke…" he demanded, reaching to the holster at his thigh, "How did the transfer ritual fail…is he still in you?"

"He failed. Orochimaru is dead, Kabuto, as is his soul, whatever little he had left, that is."

Kabuto hurled himself forward at Sasuke, who immediately drew his sword, now having one sword in each hand but he didn't get to use them.

Saber had already dashed forward, and slashed at the man, who avoided her expertly with a few steps. In retaliation, he slammed his left hand, now glowing in an ethereal blue, against her chest, while his right slammed a kunai right below. Both attacks were foiled by her armour or, in the case of the glowing hand, maybe by her natural resistance to magic, which was even more than a normal Saber would have.

She followed her attack with slashes and although her new enemy could avoid most of them, she scratched him a few times only to see that his wounds, too, were closing rapidly.

She scowled. _Not again!_

At least he didn't shed his skin as if it were a suit to do so.

"Who are you?" asked the man in front of her now with a deadly calm. "What happened to Orochimaru-sama? Sasuke couldn't have done it by himself. What role did you play?"

"He died by my sword when he attacked my Master." said Saber, her voice steady. "If it is any solace, he did not suffer as he deserved." With another Prana Dash, Saber attacked, only to have the silver haired man jump backwards, his hands making similar seals as Orochimaru did. Only, instead of shooting snakes from any part of his body, the earth beneath Saber's feet started to crumble and a sharp stalagmite shot out. Saber could only barely avoid it with a small jump to the side and she found that it had pierced a hole through the sabaton of her left foot, even scratching her heel.

This man, Saber decided, was no less dangerous than her previous opponent.

Before Saber could sprint towards him again, his hands flashed through another set of hand seals and he slammed his hands to the ground, causing the earth in front of him to take the shape of a dragon head.

The way these people here used magecraft was most unfamiliar to her.

Not giving him the chance to finish his technique, Saber used Prana Dash to cover the distance in a second and cleaved the head of the earth dragon in two before it could do anything. Not stopping, she brought her sword up, only to be blocked by a strangely shaped knife, bigger than the one before, that her enemy had brought up at the last second.

Saber renewed her efforts with a barrage of attacks, slashing and striking without pause, each strike faster and heavier than the one before. She was using more prana than she initially wanted to but she couldn't risk another drawn out fight like the last one, so she had to finish this one fast.

Her enemy had a strained look on his face as he blocked her strikes with great effort, his arm trembling after each clash of their weapons, which he did admirably, considering he did so one-handed, but ultimately, his knife wasn't made to stand against a weapon like Excalibur and the material surrendered.

To truly challenge a legendary weapon, one needed either a legendary weapon on their own or greater skill than the enemy. Saber found him lacking in both.

Right before his knife broke, he let go of the handle, causing Saber to be slightly off balance and her enemy stepped forward, getting close enough to disable her from using her sword to the fullest, this time both hands glowing. One struck her left shoulder, a place which her armour didn't cover, but rather her blue dress she wore under, while the other pounded against her forehead and she was pushed away.

While the blow had hurt, it hadn't been strong enough to do any permanent damage, so she was able to recover and swing her sword at the same time which her enemy had used to dash towards her again.

The white haired man's eyes had widened in surprise but his reflexes were better than Saber would have thought possible as he twisted his body to the side at the last second and the strike which would have otherwise beheaded him now merely cut his shoulder, which immediately began healing.

The silver haired man's hands started to form signs again but he aborted that to jump out of the way to avoid the barrage of throwing stars that her Master had thrown.

Saber didn't like teaming up on someone and preferred to handle situations like these in one to one combat but she also knew that not every fight was a duel between heroes and knights. Right now, she didn't fight for honour, but for the life of her Master. Swallowing her pride, she pointed her sword at the silver haired man.

"Invisible Air!" she shouted and the winds hiding her sword from sight slammed into her enemy, knocking him hard against the wall and exposing Excalibur to the world in all its golden glory once more. As expected, her Master used this opening to launch an attack, and to Saber's surprise, he attacked by spewing a great ball of fire, engulfing the silver haired aggressor in flames. The smell of burned flesh filled the room but before the stream of fire broke off, the enemy jumped out of his place. Clothes torched and with numerous burn wounds, all rapidly healing in front of their eyes, the eyes of the enemy were darting between the exit and them.

Not wanting to give him a chance to escape, Saber lunged at him, swinging her sword in a wide arc. Her enemy formed a seal and a identical double of his popped into existence next to him, which stepped forwards and intercepted her, swinging two knives and blocking her strike.

The original enemy, dashed to the side, his hands running through seals again, but Sasuke engaged him, both swords crackling with the sounds of thousands of birds. Kusanagi, apparently coated in lightning, cut swiftly through the knife Kabuto had brought up to defend himself, and cut through his shoulder as Sasuke's original sword, was about to pierce his stomach but he managed to grab Sasuke's arm with his left hand and pushed him aside. Eyes wide, blood drooling from his mouth, the enemy tried to sprint towards the exit, but Sasuke had given Saber a few seconds to catch up and a few seconds were all Saber needed to dispose of the fake and use a Prana Bust to close the distance between herself and the opponent. He no doubt sensed her, or he just knew that no fighter of experience would pass up a chance like this. His frantic expression turned into a snarl before Excalibur cut neatly through his left shoulder and with another vertical strike, severed his head from his neck.

She watched the headless body collapse on the ground and she was relieved to see it bleed out without any signs of regeneration. Saber was glad that not everyone in this place was that difficult to kill. However, she couldn't spend too much time thinking about this. There were more important issues to think about.

She looked at Sasuke, who, by now, had a small frown on his lips, holding his left arm.

"So that is what you meant with immunity." He started, "Anyone else would have died from his chakra scalpels, if they had been hit like you did."

Her magic resistance had saved her again, in this fight. Her respect for her now dead foe rose. Had he known that she was a Servant, he wouldn't have made the mistake that cost him his life.

"Are you injured, Sasuke?" she asked, eyes locking on to his arm.

Sheathing his swords, he shook his head, taking his position from before and standing right in front of her, looking her once again in the eyes, but this time, the redness had faded and left dark eyes meeting her green ones.

"Orochimaru should not have been able to invade your body and now he has perished. His ultimate technique, which preserved his pathetic life, has gotten him killed. A fitting end."

After a short pause, he continued. "You are strong," he noted, "Stronger than me. Whatever else he was, Orochimaru was one of the strongest shinobi alive and you killed him like a stray dog. Even injured and sick as he was, that is no small feat. Who are you?"

"I am a Servant, summoned by you through the Holy Grail, to fight for you against six other Masters and Servants for the Holy Grail war."

_At least I was supposed to…_

"Do you have a name, Saber?"

"Arturia," she said, standing regal and meeting his gaze, "Arturia Pendragon." For a second she contemplated whether to add her title or not but decided against it, at least for now. What she once had been, it mattered no longer. Be it beggar or king, right now, with her summon, all she was, was a Servant.

And if her fears were true, she was an unnecessary one.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke, of the Uchiha clan." He looked at his Command Spells, "Now tell me what these things do."

Saber pondered whether to tell him or not. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that her summon was more than a simple mistake. She had been summoned with the Holy Grail somehow, that much was clear. Nothing else would explain the Command Spells. At the same time, this didn't seem to be a regular summoning. If it had been, the Grail would have provided her with the necessary information about the place she was in.

Information about the people, their customs, their magic, their technology, their history, their language, the history of what happened since her own death and other information that would have helped interacting and surviving in the world.

But she hadn't. She didn't even know where she was. The Holy Grail War was a war fought in secret and if the Grail didn't give her the necessary information and abilities to do just that, it could only mean two things: She either had the skills and knowledge to do so already or there was no Holy Grail War.

Judging by the fact, that she didn't have any idea about the people here and the way they fought, Saber felt that it was the latter.

However, she was not certain and she would use this conversation with her Master to figure it out and until she was certain, she would respect the Master-Servant Contract and be honest with him.

A knight always keeps his word and after all, deception was not one of her strongest suits and she was quite terrible at it.

"The Command Spells," she began slowly, "represent three absolute orders that you can give to a Servant that cannot be refused. Even reality bows down to these commands. We could be miles apart and if you found yourself in danger, you could order me to appear in front of you. The Command Spell would make it happen and I would stand in front of you to serve as your shield once more."

"Hn." He grunted, examining the seals with greater interest now.

"It can also make miracles happen if enough prana between magus and Servant is available. An order strengthened by a Command Spell could create a situation which would let me overcome a stronger enemy."

Saber felt that this was a fair enough description of the very tools that leashed her. At the same time, she hadn't felt the need to disclose the fact that even Command Spells could be resisted to a certain degree, if the order was vague or impossible enough.

When her last Master had betrayed her, he had needed two Command Spells to force her to comply with his wish.

Once he had proven himself a Master worthy of her loyalty, she would indulge more information about herself and the technicalities of her summon.

If she had learned one thing from the last war, it was to be less generous and less indulging with her Master. Had she been less forgiving the last time around, things would have gone differently.

"What is this Prana, you are talking about?" he asked, forcing his eyes away from the Command Spells at last, that all looked like three red dots going in a circular fashion, not unlike his red eyes from earlier. The only difference was, the dots that had moved had been black and not red like the Command Spells but then again, all Command Spells were of the same color with only the shape being the one thing changing with each Master.

"Prana is the source of power that a magus needs for doing magecraft. It is the same energy that powers us Servants and allows us to use our abilities and Noble Phantasms. Usually, a Master would provide his Servant with prana, replenishing what the Servant used in battle, for we need the prana to continue to exist. However, I do not receive any prana from you, Sasuke, and I wonder why that is."

He looked calmly at her, his expression not betraying his thoughts and Saber would have given a lot to know them right now.

"If I were to guess, it would be because I do not use prana. Neither did anyone you fought today."

Saber had figured as much. If this had been simply a semantic problem where prana had simply a different name, it would have made little difference, for she would still have been supplied with prana.

No prana. If this truly was a completely different place or time, where no one had any prana, then there was no way for her to survive. Eating and resting didn't regenerate her prana as much as they did ensure that she wasn't losing much at those instances and just recovered physically. Whatever little she gained by that was inconsequent in the long run.

Those two fights had used up more than half her reserves. Invisible Air might have been her 'weakest' and least costly Noble Phantasm but it still drained a lot of energy and she had used it several times, not to mention the numerous Prana Bursts throughout the fights. Add the constrain drain that manifesting her armour and her sword brought, alongside the prana that was used to simply ensure her existence…

It hadn't even been twenty minutes since her summoning and already it seemed she was nearing her death.

Another fight as straining as this one, a fight in which she wouldn't be as effective as she had been in this, would guarantee her death, and by proxy, the death of her Master. Not to mention that it seemed that her opponent had been far from his best.

She told him that.

"This Holy Grail War,…" he trailed off, "I have never heard of it before."

"I…I had feared as much." She shared her suspicions about the validity of the Holy Grail War and was getting frustrated by the lack of response.

"Are you sure that you aren't simply a special case? The war may be happening right now but for some reason, your connection to it is faulty? My summoning couldn't have been right, since I tried to summon a snake."

"I am uncertain." It was true that as far as Servants went, she was a special case but the last war had summoned her normally, just like the other Servants. But it was also true that she didn't know all that much about the finer workings of magecraft and the Holy Grail. After all, she was no magus but a knight.

"There is no need for us to dance around the question in both of our minds, so let me ask you this: Are you willing to cooperate with me a while longer, even if there is no such thing as this Holy Grail War?"

Saber's eyes widened, before she composed herself again. "It is my duty to follow you into battle and protect you." she answered.

"That's not what I asked."

"No, it is not." Saber said with a small smile, before it dropped. "The Holy Grail War grants the winning Master and Servant any wish they desire. It is for this very reason that I accepted to become a Servant in the first place. That wish is my very reason for fighting. If my wish is beyond reach, if it is impossible for me to achieve it..." her grip on her sword tightened. "Explain to me your goal and I will decide whether or not I will help you with your cause, at least until a time in which I can pursue my wish again."

Sasuke nodded, "I am going to kill…a certain man." Even though Saber saw that he tried his best to keep his body from betraying anything, she saw the faintest trace of tenseness.

"But, he is always accompanied by at least one of his allies. Furthermore, until we can get to him, we are bound to run into more people who are looking for me. I wanted to build a platoon with three others and track that person down. They were supposed to deal with his allies, while I fight the man I want to kill, Uchiha Itachi."

Saber recognized the same family name and before she could inquire any further, Sasuke continued.

"He is my brother and killed our whole family in cold blood. Since that day, eight years ago, I have trained to become strong enough to kill him. I may not be there yet, but I doubt we will find him in the next week, so there is still time to prepare ourselves.

"You, Arturia, would be useful."

He glanced at her, his eyes still black and cold.  
"You will be more than capable of doing that on your own. This way, I won't need to deal with a large group. With two people, we will be able to move faster, too. All I would require you to do, would be to keep his partner busy while I fight my brother."

Vengeance, justice, closure. Whatever the child in front of her wanted, maybe all three, it was painful to see. But who was she to judge someone else's reason for fighting?

"I am not one for revenge, however, I do understand the pursuit of justice for your family. While I do not fully commit myself to your cause right not, I am willing to lend you my strength for the time being, as long as we do not harm innocents while doing so."

Sasuke nodded.

"Follow me." He ordered and started walking and Saber fell behind him, striding at the same pace. She dismissed her sword and her armour to preserve the prana, leaving her in her blue dress. It was obvious to her that this would stand out in this place as well, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Besides, this world must have seen stranger things. She refused to believe that Orochimaru was normal by this places standards and if people like him ran around, than a young girl in strange clothes shouldn't draw too much attention.

"Why did Orochimaru want your body?" asked Saber.

"He wanted a body with the Sharingan, the red eyes that you saw earlier, and mine is the only one left that he would be able to claim."

Saber didn't know what those eyes did but she knew enough about Mystic Eyes to know that they could be extremely dangerous. If this Sharingan was something similar, it didn't surprise her that someone had tried to steal it somehow.

They walked a few minutes through the maze, until they stepped into a room that was full with countless, water filled tubes that were connected to the sealing with numerous pipes and cables.

Just when Saber was about to ask why they were here, they heard a voice.

"I thought it was you…so you actually defeated Orochimaru then?"

"No, she did." responded Sasuke with a shrug, "Let's get you out of there, first."

With that, he slashed through the water filled, man sized tube with a lazy swing of the Kusanagi sword and observed the water bursting out.

Saber hadn't said anything, watching with widened eyes as the water in front of her streamed together, until they took the shape of a naked young man with strange white-bluish hair and a sharkish grin, around the same age as her Master.

He was either a very accomplished water mage or a water spirit. She didn't care much for mages but she had a certain fondness for water spirits but this didn't seem to be like the usual sorts. He certainly was nothing the like the Lady in the Lake.

"Thanks Sasuke," he responded, kneeling naked in the midst of a huge puddle.

She tensed, her invisible sword already forming in her hands. If he were to attack Sasuke now, she would at least be able to defend him, without alerting him of her armed state.

If either of the two had noticed, they weren't showing any signs of it.

"But did I understand you right, this little girly girl there killed Orochimaru?"

"She did."

"Interesting," he said, with a mad grin, revealing his sharp teeth. He stood up, completely unashamed of his nakedness, as he approached Saber. "Now, why would I believe that?" he asked. "Many people tried to kill Orochimaru, and this little thing succeeded?"

He vanished from sight, only to appear behind her. Saber hadn't moved but she didn't need to. With the right angle she aimed the tip of her invisible sword against the water mages throat, as he had leaned uncomfortable close to her.

"I would advise you to stand back, magus." Saber's voice didn't tolerate any objection.

"Ohoho, pretty and tough." he laughed, completely unconcerned. "So it seems it wasn't complete bullshit. And an invisible..." he paused for a second as he pressed his throat a bit more against the invisible edge. "sword, is it? I haven't heard of a sword like this before."

He turned to Sasuke, "Who is she?"

"None of your business." said Sasuke calmly.

"Ah, gotcha," He backed off, hands raised.

"So, what now?"

"You are going to get dressed and we will part out ways, Suigetsu."

"What the hell did you free me for, then?" asked Suigetsu, a bit annoyed as he frowned.

"A whim." said Sasuke, looking at him. "I just felt like it."

"A whim is it?" Suigetsu grumbled, clearly dissatisfied with this answer. "Very well, a whim it is.

"Just one question before you leave."  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"I've heard rumors that your old squad was the one that killed my former sempai, Zabuza. Is that true?"

Sasuke nodded, watching him carefully.

Suigetsu's grin widened. "Did you take his sword?"

"No, we left it as his burial stone."

"Meaning if no one else claimed it, it should be still there. Tell me where it is and I am out of your hair."

"You owe me." Sasuke said, "Someday, I will demand a favour from you."

"Sure, sure." A mad, savage grin appeared on his face. "I will cut whoever you like into pieces."

Sasuke nodded, a faint smile finding its way into his face, as he briefly described the location of Zabuza's grave. "Before we part ways, have you heard of 'The Holy Grail War'?" Sasuke asked, catching both, Saber and Suigetsu, off guard.

The water magus, having just gotten some clothes from one of the lockers in the room, looked confused.

"Nah, never heard of it, what's that supposed to be?"

"Never mind." He turned around, walking out of the room, waving a hand nonchalantly.

"Take care."

Saber, casting one last look at Suigetsu who was staring intensely at her, followed her Master.

"Yeah, take care you two." she heard, just as she stepped out.

"One more thing, girly."

Saber turned around at the same time as Sasuke stopped walking, his head tilting slightly to the left.

"A lot of people wanted to kill that guy and you got there first, even passing the guy who had the best chances. That's no small feat and a lot of people will thank you for it. However, don't delude yourself into thinking that you are hot shit because of that. It was just a matter of time that someone offed that bastard and you just happened to be first, got that?"

Saber just stared at his odd expression that seemed to be somewhere between a grin and a frown.

"There a lot of warriors and knights who are my equal or superior in combat." Saber agreed, "However, I am not convinced you are one of them." After seeing the grin on his face widen and nod, she turned around, walking away.

Only when they were a few minutes away, did she dismiss the sword again.

"Who was that?" asked Saber, after her Master hadn't said anything.

"A…comrade in arms, or rather, a kindred spirit." he answered briefly, leading her out of the underground maze and into an open forest.

Noticing that Saber wanted a longer answer, he complied. "He was one of the people Orochimaru experimented on and we fought a few times for training. Originally, after killing Orochimaru myself, I wanted to take him and two others and form a team."

He stopped, turned around and looked in her eyes. "But my plans changed since I met you. He is weaker than I am and with you by my side, someone like him is redundant. His personality is difficult to deal with and while I was willing to suffer it before, now, with you, there is no need."

"What exactly are your plans?"

"We are going to find my brother and for that we might need Karin, whose ability to sense chakra signatures is the best I know off."

"How are you going to secure their assistance?" Saber asked, as they stopped to gather a few supplies from one of the rooms.

"I will ask for it and see if she is up to it. If she declines, we will just look out for Akatsuki teams and get our answers from them."

"A satisfactory answer." Saber agreed. They stepped outside of the building, and started to walk away, in a more leisurely pace.

"We should get some rest first. While I would be able to begin immediately, I feel that your injuries need some treatment and you're surely fatigued."

Sasuke nodded, as he leaped on the branch of a tree, closely followed by Saber.

"I think I know where to rest, but it is a few hours from here. I can manage it there and we will get better treatment and security than we would anywhere else. It is an estate that once belonged to my family after all and its inhabitants still feel loyal towards us."

Saber, after inspecting the injuries once more with a short glance, nodded, with a slight frown on her face.

"Very well."


End file.
